Community Conservation, a Positive Process in Kahuzi-Biega
The Kahuzi-Biega National Park (KBNP) was created in 1970. Fifteen years
later, in 1985, the national park authority ICCN (Congolese Institute
for Nature Conservation) initiated a pilot project called KBNP-GTZ "Integrated
Nature Conservation in Eastern Congo", with support from Germany,
provided by the German Technical Cooperation (GTZ). Today, this project
is a component of the Biodiversity and Forest Programme.
Law enforcement on its own has proved insufficient to decrease pressure
on the natural resources of the Congolese protected areas; in certain
areas, in fact, this approach was even the cause of the pressure, as park
staff were considered a nuisance by the local residents who did not understand
why access to the resources of the park had to be forbidden while they
did not gain anything from the protection of the park. For revenge, they
went back into the park in search of resources. This atmosphere has created
a large social gap and the cessation of dialogue between the two parties.
The KBNP-GTZ project had to begin with outreach to the population, with
the goal of bringing the two parties together again, and creating an atmosphere
of discussion which would eventually result in the development of mutual
trust. Why do we need to conserve nature? Why do we need a national park?
Why is it in the interest of the local population to protect a park? These
are some of the first questions contained in various public awareness
messages. This was not easy against a background of a population already
suffering through the mismanagement of the second republic and degraded
by poverty. Even so, a climate of dialogue was slowly established.
It turned out that the promises of support contained in the public awareness
messages are indispensable. The next step is to try and solve certain
problems of livelihoods of the population. In order to find solutions,
socio-economic studies have been conducted in the administrative entities
surrounding the park. These studies have defined intervention zones that
are considered centres of development, and criteria for the support of
Local Development Initiatives and local NGOs. The requests received from
these initiatives and NGOs were mostly oriented towards social infrastructure
such as health centres, schools, and bridges.
In 1999, this approach was questioned by studies evaluating the impact
of the support provided by the GTZ-KBNP project for the conservation of
the park. These studies showed that our development interventions were
of a social character and had an impact on the community, whereas the
community had aimed more at economic activities with an impact on individual
households. This can be easily understood: constructing a dispensary or
a school could not prevent someone who is starving or who has no money
from returning to the park. Once more the approach had to be re-considered.
An attempt to create small social groups by gathering together local leaders
was effective. This may not be sustainable, however, since the tribal
chiefs think that the existence of these small social groups decreases
their authority: the leaders of the small social groups are beginning
to make decisions on the development of the administrative entities without
always consulting the chiefs. In order to address problems, another study
has been conducted on stakeholders involved in the park's natural resources
in some way or other. At the end of this study, Community Conservation
Committees (CCCs) were put into place.
The members of these committees are democratically elected and represent
all socio-professional layers of the population concerned with natural
resources - such as public administration, education, churches, NGOs,
health, trade, police, traditional doctors, pygmies, and conservationists.
This committee is a body of conception, coordination and control, not
one of execution. It represents the village in all matters relating to
conservation and development.
As mentioned before, this is a process, and several stages have to be
gone through before such a committee can be set up, i.e.:
- Sensitization of the population for this process through preparation meetings conducted in each village and with all socio-professional categories participating.
- Identification of all parties involved in the management of natural resources.
- The election of members, initially at the village level, subsequently at the level of the entire administrative entity.
- Signature of the Memorandum of Understanding. This mediates between the population and the park. It is drawn up as a joint agreement between the two parties and signed after general agreement has been reached.
- The village development plan. After a socio-economic study has been conducted of the local conditions, a conservation-development plan is developed.
- Training. Capacity building of its members is one of the priorities of the CCC. Training should be delivered according to the needs expressed by the conservation development plan or the state.
- Follow-up and evaluation. The stakeholders develop and implement a follow-up methodology.
For its operation, each CCC selects a directing body with a spokesperson.
He/she will develop a conservation-development plan; this plan is considered
a development plan by the united villages, and it does not matter which
partner signs it in addition to the park.
All the support from the KBNP is fed through these structures. The advantages
of this strategy are the concentration of efforts made, the joint influence
of the partners' activities, and the fact that all corners of the region
are reached to some extent, be it actually reached by support or at least
informed of the possibility of obtaining support.
Another advantage is that the villages concerned feel empowered and work
towards good governance. In addition, this approach contributes to making
participation effective, from the planning via the implementation and
the follow-up stages of activities to their evaluation.
Twelve community conservation committees are currently up and running;
11 of these are located at the highland part of the park and only one
at the lowland part. This distribution is justified on the one hand by
the inaccessibility of the low-altitude areas and, on the other, by the
limited availability of funds to extend the model, although it continues
to prove its validity.
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| Meeting of a CCC at the border of the Kahuzi-Biega
National Park Photos: Carlos Schuler |
The roof of the primary school in Murhume, Nindja, is covered with metal sheets. |
Support of Partners
As mentioned above, founding a CCC requires a lot of funds. Until now,
11 CCCs are covered by the Biodiversity and Forest Programme component
of the KBNP-GTZ project; only the Nzovu CCC is supported by GTZ Saice-Kindu.
We are especially grateful to the NGOs Berggorilla & Regenwald
Direkthilfe and Born Free Foundation. Berggorilla &
Regenwald Direkthilfe has funded the schooling of 200 Pygmy children
and has also supported other activities related to the CCCs. We thank
the Born Free Foundation for the support for other activities of
the Community Conservation Committees, in addition to everything the organisation
has already contributed to the park.
While reiterating our gratitude, we hope that these laudable gestures
of generosity will not be the last. Your support makes a great contribution
not only to the development of our country, the Congo, but also and especially
to the conservation of the endemic species, the eastern gorilla.
The Great Remaining Question: the Continuation of the CCCs
Looking at the life of a CCC up to the implementation of the conservation-development
plan, it is clear that these are enormous programs, which aim at sustainable
development and require considerable funds, especially as the major cause
for having to resort to the natural resources of the park remains the
poverty of the local population. Once our country regains its self-autonomy
and the park is able to finance itself, we hope that our current and future
partners will continue to support the efforts of the ICCN through this
participatory management of natural resources approach.
The war will have to come to an end now. The Congolese Government needs
to make nature conservation one of its priorities. The ICCN needs to revive
tourism in order to generate incomes that will permit the safeguarding
of the balance between conservation and development that is the aim of
community conservation initiatives.
Radar Birhashirwa Nishuli
Recently Berggorilla & Regenwald Direkthilfe supported the CCC at the park corridor in the Nindja region with a generous donation from the bank Kempen & Co. in Amsterdam that we received via the Apenheul Primate Conservation Trust. This corridor is an extremely vulnerable part of the park - by our support we hope to motivate the population to save the park's resources.
Radar Birhashirwa Nishuli is the Head of the Environmental Education Unit of the KBNP. He has been working in the park since 1985.